The Judiciary managed to complete 30 criminal matters over the past year, including eight murders.

As he delivered his address during the 2021/2022 Law Term opening this morning, Chief Justice Ivor Archie said the past year was challenging in this area, due to the absence of juries.

He said the Criminal Division will receive focused attention in the new year, as he said the logistics of providing enough sanitized court rooms for jury trials is likely to be a problem in the short term.

Other divisions, the CJ pointed out, managed to improve on resolving a backlog of cases. 

“In the Civil Division of the High Court, we actually disposed of 3,025 matters- a marginal uptick from last year. Of particular significance is the fact that 74% of those matters were less than two years old at the time of disposition.”

“The news was similarly encouraging in the Family Jurisdiction, where there was an increase (in dispositions) from 2,555 to 2,688. And I’m happy to report that 72% of those were less than a year old,” CJ Archie said. 

“To be able to maintain, and in some areas, increase total disposition figures is. remarkable feat,” he added.